The Bible: How It Came To Us (II.)
In our last article we showed the falsity of the claim that the Catholic church gave us the Bible, and that it came through the verbal inspiration of Holy Spirit. In this article, we want to trace it down through the ages from the manuscripts to the present translations we use.
Manuscripts
Not one of the manuscripts, the originally inspired ones, is in existence today but we do have handwritten copies of the original in the original language, and these are called "manuscripts." The oldest known is the CODEX SINAITICUS. It was discovered in 1844 by Tischendorf (a German protestant) at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It is written in Greek capitol letters on 100 antelope skins. It is one of 50 copies ordered by Constantine early in the third century. It contains ALL of the New Testament and most of the Old, and has never been in the hands of the Roman Catholic church; it is in the British Museum, London.
Another, is the CODEX VATICANUS, which has been in the Vatican since it was discovered in 1475, and is believed also to be one of the 50 ordered by Constantine. Some entire books, and many parts of others are missing. We note there are literally hundreds of others, which contain parts of the Old or New Testament, many of which were copied long before any "council" told us what was "authentic."
Versions
The oldest copies we have though, are the "versions," which are translations from the original Greek to other languages. Our oldest translation is the SYRIAC which is a translation into six dialects of Syrian, some time near 100 AD. It is a complete New Testament like we have it today. Another is the OLD LATIN, from Greek to Latin late in the second century. We also have the COPTIC, Greek to Egyptian, late second century. The GOTHIC version is a translation from Greek to Gothic, in 375. In 385, we have the LATIN VULGATE, a revision of the OLD LATIN, by Jerome. Jerome used the Bible which belonged to Origen (early third century). The Council of Hippo (390 AD) declared him to be inspired, and infallible, in his translation yet he DID NOT INCLUDE the "extra" books which Catholics now use.
Dark Ages
During the next thousand years, which are generally referred to as the "dark ages," when the Catholic church, virtually ruled the known world, not much was done to get the Bible to the people, but much was done to prevent it. In 1388, Wycliff finished translating the New Testament into English, and was promptly excommunicated by the Catholic church. Forty years later, his bones were dug up, burned, and the ashes scattered on the Swift River, by the Catholic church all because he dared trying to put the Bible in language the people could read! In 1525, Tyndale finished his translation of the English New Testament. The catholics confiscated, and destroyed most of the 15,000 copies, and he had to flee for his life. Ten years later, he was lured back to England with the promise of forgiveness, and was burned at the stake by order of the Catholic church. That same year, 1535, Coverdale finished his translation of the entire Bible. By now, the Catholics were losing so many members because of these translations and the Reformation, that they finally published the Old Testament in English - but it was not until just before the King James Version was off the press that brought out their version of the New Testament. Thus we can see, through the years, the Catholic church has SUPPRESSED the Bible, and persecuted those who would put it in the language of the people.
Popular Translations
The most popular translation ever is the KING JAMES, or sometimes called "Authorized" - which only means it was authorized by King James, of England. It was translated by 48 of the world's greatest Greek scholars, in 1611. Probably the most accurate translation is the AMERICAN STANDARD. The Old Testament was completed in 1881 and the New in 1885, in England, by 101 English and American scholars, recognized as the best in the world. There were a few changes made in this translation, mainly the change to the "American" spelling, and expressions. This was published in 1901, and called the AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION (NT revised again in 1963.)
Modern Language
Many "modern language" versions have come out since, some of them are good, and accurate, and many of them merely "commentaries" or "paraphrases" NOT translations. The REVISED STANDARD VERSION (1946-51) is mainly a modernist translation and not dependable, though most of the modernist denominations now use it. It almost seems the main purpose of bringing it out was to destroy the faith of as many as possible. Another one which is highly advertised today is the AMPLIFIED version (1958-1965), which may more properly be referred to as a MIS-translation, and not a translation so much as a paraphrase of men's opinions, often false. Some, such as the NEW WORLD translation, are published by certain denominations and written so as to favor the peculiar and false teachings of such groups.
Remember that a book may be CALLED accurate and NOT be, just as one may CALL himself a Christian, and NOT be. Some of the Bible has been translated into at least 1200 different languages and dialects -almost anyone in the entire world may read it in his language.
Read it often and read it confidently if you have a GOOD translation, such as the KING JAMES, or the AMERICAN STANDARD - but be VERY careful of the modern language paraphrases.
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